Note that this is a work in progress. There are some areas that are not complete and some areas where more information can be provided. It will be updated as time permits.
Connecting TV and Internet
and Troubleshooting Problems
All of the network services — TV, Internet, and Phone (if add phone) — all enter your home on a single coaxial cable.
The coaxial cable (just called "coax") comes into a sealed box in your utility closet (at least in most units). In most cases this box includes a "splitter" to distribute the signal to multiple rooms in your unit.
The splitter has one input connection and 2 or more output connections. Splitters take all of the signals on the input connection and sends them to all of the outputs (for phone and Internet the signals also flow in the other direction). Another important thing about a splitter is that it splits the power. In the 1-to-4 splitter in the picture, here, each output port gets 1/4 of the power coming in from Spectrum regardless of whether a cable is connected or not. So, in all cases, you want to use a splitter with exactly the number of outputs needed, no more. |
Troubleshooting tip #1 - If some rooms seem to work just fine and other rooms don't work at all:
- First, remove the wall faceplate in the room where it isn't working and make sure the coaxial cable is screwed onto the connector on the faceplate. When initially installed it might have just been curled up in the electrical box.
- If the room still has no service, it might be a connection issue to the splitter. In this case you will likely have to contact Spectrum (833-697-7328) since the box in the utility closet is sealed.
Connecting a Television
Connecting a TV is easy. (If the TV is being connected in the same room as your cable modem then you should read the section below about connecting the Cable Modem and then come back to this section.)
You need a Set Top Box (STB) from Spectrum for each TV that you want to connect. The STB is connected to the wall with a short length of coaxial cable (which is provided with the STB). This is frequently called a "patch" cable. If you need a longer cable (the cable provided is a few feet long) you can purchase various lengths in most hardware stores, in stores like Best Buy, on Amazon, etc. Two important points - You want RG6 cable (not the older RG59) and you want male connectors on both ends.
From the STB to the TV you use an HDMI cable (again, provided with the STB). Most modern TVs have multiple HDMI ports and it doesn't really matter which one you use, you just have to select the correct SOURCE on your TV.
You need a Set Top Box (STB) from Spectrum for each TV that you want to connect. The STB is connected to the wall with a short length of coaxial cable (which is provided with the STB). This is frequently called a "patch" cable. If you need a longer cable (the cable provided is a few feet long) you can purchase various lengths in most hardware stores, in stores like Best Buy, on Amazon, etc. Two important points - You want RG6 cable (not the older RG59) and you want male connectors on both ends.
From the STB to the TV you use an HDMI cable (again, provided with the STB). Most modern TVs have multiple HDMI ports and it doesn't really matter which one you use, you just have to select the correct SOURCE on your TV.
Your Spectrum STB (called a receiver in the diagram) might not look exactly like this one, but it will have the same connections. Note that when you power on a STB it takes a while to come on line.
Troubleshooting tip #2 - You don't have any picture (your TV says "No Signal" or something like that on the screen):
- Make sure all of the cables are connected as shown
- Whenever you are connecting a coaxial cable, make sure that the thin pin (the conductor) in the plug is straight and slides into the hole in the connector. It is really easy for these to be bent.
- Make sure that both sides of the coax are screwed on well, straight, and tight
- If possible, try a different room to make sure this cable outlet is actually connected (see troubleshooting tip #1, above.
Troubleshooting tip #3 - You have a picture, but some or all of the channels are bad/fuzzy:
- Make sure all of the cables are connected as shown
- Make sure that both sides of the coax are screwed on well, straight, and tight
- If it is just one, or a few, channels, make sure that they are channels that we get on our plan
- Call Spectrum (833-697-7328). They can remotely access your setup top box and determine if it is working correctly and whether it has a strong enough signal. If the signal is not strong enough it could be due to poor connections, bad cabling, or too much splitting. The solution might be easy or it might be hard.
Connecting Internet
There are three "devices" related to an Internet connection:
- The Cable Modem - This is a device that has a coax connection and an Ethernet connection. Its job is to extract the Internet signal from the coax, convert it to data packets, and send it out on the Ethernet connection. And vice versa. It doesn't really do any "networking" stuff other than converting one type of signal to another.
- The Router - This is the device that processes Internet traffic. Usually a router has one Ethernet port labeled WAN and one or more Ethernet ports labeled LAN (more on connection, below). This box is responsible for doing all of the stuff related to sending and receiving data packets to the right place. It gets an Internet address for your unit from Spectrum and converts device addresses used by your devices to this "external" address and vice versa.
- The Wireless Access Point - This is the device with antenna(s) that take data packets from (and to) the router and transmits them on WiFi to the devices in your network.
Connecting the Cable Modem
As noted above, the Cable Modem has a coax connection and an Ethernet connection. If the Cable Modem is going into a room that does not have a TV, then it can connected to the wallplate with a patch cable (provided with the Cable Modem) just like the STB in the section about. Everything described above for connection of an STB applies here.
If the location also includes a TV, then you will need to install a splitter. The splitter should be a 1-to-2 splitter (i.e., one input and two outputs). The splitter should be rated for at least 1000MHz (or 1GHz) although these days it is increasingly common to see splitters that are rated up to 1500 or 2000MHz (2GHz).
As noted above, the Cable Modem has a coax connection and an Ethernet connection. If the Cable Modem is going into a room that does not have a TV, then it can connected to the wallplate with a patch cable (provided with the Cable Modem) just like the STB in the section about. Everything described above for connection of an STB applies here.
If the location also includes a TV, then you will need to install a splitter. The splitter should be a 1-to-2 splitter (i.e., one input and two outputs). The splitter should be rated for at least 1000MHz (or 1GHz) although these days it is increasingly common to see splitters that are rated up to 1500 or 2000MHz (2GHz).
Since the STB comes with a coax patch cord and the Cable Modem comes with a coax patch cord, you might need to purchase another patch cord since, as you can see in the picture, you need three. If you are getting new equipment from Spectrum they usually include a cable kit that includes the splitter and the additional cables. In this case you will have everything that you need.
The first step is to connect the Cable Modem. This is just a matter of connecting a coax patch cord either from the cable outlet or the splitter to the coax connector on the Cable Modem.
The next step is to connect the Router (Router+Wifi Access Point) to the Cable Modem with the short Ethernet cable to comes with the Router. The Internet/Ethernet port on the Cable Modem should be connected to the Internet port on the Router.
The first step is to connect the Cable Modem. This is just a matter of connecting a coax patch cord either from the cable outlet or the splitter to the coax connector on the Cable Modem.
The next step is to connect the Router (Router+Wifi Access Point) to the Cable Modem with the short Ethernet cable to comes with the Router. The Internet/Ethernet port on the Cable Modem should be connected to the Internet port on the Router.
You can activate the Cable Modem either by calling Spectrum (833-697-7328) or using your smartphone either using the Spectrum app or going to spectrum.net in your browser.
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Once your Internet Service is up and running (or anytime after that) you should check to ensure that you have adequate performance. There are many Apps that can measure speed and Spectrum also has an App. I recommend using the SpeedTest app by Ookla. It is available for all platforms (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android) and is widely used.
After downloading and installing the App you run it. You will see a screen that looks something like this. The App will find a nearby server (in this case it found a Verizon server). All you have to do is press or click on the GO button and the test will start. It will test the download speed and the upload speed. |

Once the test is complete it will display the results like this.
Our Internet Service at Lincoln Station is 400 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload. As you can see, this test resulted in really good service. I got almost 500 Mbps download and over 20 Mbps upload. This won't always be the case, in general we should see something close to the expected values.
You can click on (press) the GO button to run the test again (and again).
But what if you don't get the expected values?
Our Internet Service at Lincoln Station is 400 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload. As you can see, this test resulted in really good service. I got almost 500 Mbps download and over 20 Mbps upload. This won't always be the case, in general we should see something close to the expected values.
You can click on (press) the GO button to run the test again (and again).
But what if you don't get the expected values?
Troubleshooting tip #4 - Your Internet Speed is not as much as expected.
- Make sure you are testing with a device that can support the higher speeds. Your device should support Wifi5 (802.11ac) or Wifi6 (802.11ax). Testing with a device that can't process the higher speeds isn't terribly useful.
- Make sure you are close to the router. Wireless signals get weaker as you get farther away. You should be able to get the appropriate speeds if you are in the same room as the router.
- Ideally you should check with two different wireless devices (e.g., 2 cell phones, or a cell phone and a laptop, etc.). You want to rule out a defective test device.
- After checking these items you can either call Spectrum support or, if you want to troubleshoot further yourself, there are some things that you can try. These tests require that you have a computer (laptop) that has an Ethernet port on it. If you have a device like that then you can try the following the items in the following flowchart before you call Spectrum.